The 21st century has witnessed an exponential growth in technological tools whose intentions are to enhance productivity. In some instances they create complex issues that have to be addressed prior to completion of a task such as technological obsolescence and deterioration of digital storage media (Li & Banach, 2011), and asset management technologies, digital archiving best practices, and metadata standards (Hurford & Runyon, 2011) . With the digitization of photography collections, libraries are being forced to reexamine their workflows in order to facilitate the acquisitions process, provide better access, and successful collection management. In order to determine the current status of workflows for digital photography collections in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions, this presentation will examine the results of a survey. Based on the methodology presented by Li and Banach (2011), questions will focus on participating libraries’ missions and goals, preservation policies and strategies, rights and agreements, long-term plans to ensure quality of the resources, and sustainable funding and staffing concerns (p. 2). Findings will reveal current workflows practices for digital photograph collections in ARL libraries, and identify concerns and suggested remedies for libraries struggling with designing and implementing effective digitization workflows.

Session Leader

Vickie Toranzo-Zacker (School of Information, University of South Florida)